Google's Relationships with Its Environment

In developing an argument you will need to persuade your marker that your choice of theory/ies best describes Google's relationships with its environment. Beware that many of the articles available on Google present strong arguments about whether the company is a positive or negative force in the global economy. This essay does not ask you to make a judgment on these issues, but if, in the conclusion you wish to make a judgment about Google you may do so if it assists in supporting your argument about power in Google and the company's relationship with its organisational environment.

Some students may find it easier to think about the following two questions:

1. How do the chosen perspectives help you to understand Google's power within the global economy?

2. How does Google's power affect its relationship with its organisational environment?

The first question asks you to think about how you can apply the two theoretical approaches you have used in Part A of the assignment to conceptualise how Google exercises power and authority over its various employees, partners, competitors, consumers, etc. and how employees, partners, competitors, consumers, etc. might resist Google's power. What role does power and the limits of power play in Google's broader environmental relationships?

The second question is asking you to consider the various relationships between the organisation and its broader, international environment. The issue of environmental relationships is taken up throughout the Hatch and Cunliffe (2006) textbook with chapter three being the major focal point for this discussion. Once again, most organisational theory textbooks have chapters or sections on organisations and environment and would be worth consulting additional readings. Remember you must apply appropriate organisational theories to develop your arguments. For example, you might want to apply Environmental Contingency Theory, Institutional Theory or Stakeholder Theory to explain Google's relationship with its environment or Enacted Environment to discuss Google's perceptions of its environment in recent years. Remember these theories have a particular association with the four perspectives (e.g. environmental contingency theory is underpinned by modernist assumptions). These are only a few suggestions. It is up to you to choose how you want to develop your essay and your theoretically informed argument.

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